TITLE 15

Elections

General Elections

CHAPTER 59. CONTESTED ELECTIONS

Subchapter II. Electors for President and Vice-President

§ 5921 Notice of contest; specification.

Any person intending to contest the election of any one declared by the Governor to have been chosen an elector of President and Vice-President of the United States, shall, within 10 days after such declaration by proclamation of the Governor, give written notice of such intention to the person whose election the contesting person intends to contest and also to the Governor, and within 5 days after the delivery of such notice, shall deliver to the person whose election the contesting person contests and to the Governor written specification of the grounds upon which the contesting person intends to contest the election of the person so declared to have been elected. If 1 of the grounds shall be that illegal votes were given at such election for the person declared to have been elected then such specification shall particularly set forth the name of each alleged illegal voter, with the several objections to the legality of that voter's vote, and shall also distinctly set forth and state the election district at which the alleged illegal vote was cast.

The person declared to have been elected and who has received notice of contest shall, within 10 days after receiving specification of the grounds of contest, deliver to the person so contesting the elected person's election, and to the Governor, a like specification of objections to the right of the contestant to be declared an elector, and in such specification may also state any other ground upon which the elected person rests the validity of the elected person's election.

Every specification shall be verified by the affidavit of the party delivering the same, stating that the party verily believes that the grounds of objection set forth are substantially true, and that the voters specified as illegal voters were not entitled by law to vote at the election in question.

The notice and specification which have been delivered to the Governor shall be delivered by the Governor to the special board of canvass provided for in § 5927 of this title, together with the certificates of the votes given for each person voted for for elector as returned to the Governor by the respective boards of canvass under Chapter 57 of this title on the first day of the assembling of the special board of canvass.

In the trial of the case of a contested election, the parties shall be restricted to the grounds of objection in the specifications set forth and to the statement of the other grounds upon which the person declared to have been elected rests the validity of that person's election and shall not examine into the illegality of any other vote than those specified as illegal nor impeach such votes for any causes other than those so specified.

Where any contestant or person who has been declared elected and whose election is contested is desirous of obtaining testimony respecting a contested election, such person may apply to the Prothonotary of the Superior Court in Kent County, for a subpoena or subpoenas for summoning such witnesses as the contestant or person who has been declared elected may wish to appear before the special board of canvass at such time as shall be in the subpoenas designated. Such subpoena shall be directed to the sheriff of the county in which the witness or witnesses reside, and shall be served in the same manner as subpoenas for witnesses in civil cases are served. The sheriff to whom a subpoena may be directed shall make return of that sheriff's service thereon to the special board of canvass on the first day of its meeting to hear the contest.

§ 5927 Superior Court for Kent County declared a special board of canvass to hear contest.

The Superior Court for Kent County is continued and declared to be a special board of canvass to hear and determine all contests of elections of electors of President and Vice-President with power to regulate and determine the mode of procedure, and all other matters pertaining thereto as may be necessary in carrying out the provision of this subchapter and the Act of Congress fixing the day of the meeting of electors. The Governor whenever a notice of contest is served upon the Governor shall immediately make proclamation convening such Superior Court in special session at the Courthouse in Dover on a day to be by the Governor named, which shall not be later than December 20, next succeeding the day of the election in the year in which the election was held.

The Superior Court, after hearing any contest of election of an elector or electors, shall make out and certify under the seal of the Court the ascertainment of the vote of the State for electors, and also certify the names of the persons chosen as electors, and cause such ascertainment and certificate, together with all the papers and certificates filed in the case, to be delivered to the Governor on or before January 1 next succeeding the day of the election at which electors were chosen.